


Boundaries

by Abbie



Series: Sleeping With A Friend [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Boundaries, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 10:55:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4134831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbie/pseuds/Abbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy and Felicity belatedly negotiate the terms of their with-benefits relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Boundaries

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by andyouweremine (alwaysaqueen)

Tommy was washing dishes when he heard his apartment door open and the familiar jingle of Felicity’s keychains in the entry.

“Hey!” he called. “In the kitchen.”

Felicity walked in a moment later, dressed like she’d been out around town in a flirty orange scoopneck dress, the long, close-fitting sleeves making him want to run his hands up her arms, feel the softness of the material. She looked strangely preoccupied as she rounded the island to join him at the sink, resting her back against the counter.

Frowning, Tommy rinsed his hands and shut off the tap, grabbing the dish towel as he turned towards her, leaning his hip against the dishwasher. “Hey. You okay?”

“Hmm?” Felicity’s chin came up, eyebrows popping high as her eyes focused on him at last. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”

He chuckled, but his brow creased in lingering concern. “I don’t know, you tell me.” Lifting a hand, he tapped the corner of his mouth. “You have that thoughtful pout going on.”

She instantly tucked her lips, making him grin at her unconscious reaction. But then she sighed “It’s n—well, no. It’s not nothing. But I don’t know that it’s  _something_ , either, or maybe it’s just that it’s not a big deal? But… it’s making me think about stuff.”

Tommy flickered his eyebrows up, lips parting. “Well, that didn’t make things much clearer for me, Smoak, wanna share with the class?”

She flushed, and he reached across to comfortingly rub his palm over her forearm. (The dress was exactly as soft as it looked.)

“I just… the coffee shop I go to sometimes, and do my coding?”

He nodded. “Jitters, right?”

She hummed affirmation. “There’s this guy I’ve been running into there semi-regularly for the last few weeks. I mean, he’s—he’s cute, funny. Some kind of writer, maybe? Anyways, he flirts. And I awkward at him.” She huffed at herself. “You know how I do.”

Tommy curled his mouth in wry affection. “You awkward quite adorably.”

She flashed him a grateful smile. “Anyways, I kind of got the feeling tonight he was gonna ask me out?” Tommy inhaled very carefully, but she missed it, ducking her chin, eyes dropping to the linoleum. “But then he didn’t. But it made me think… what if he had?”

Tommy’s hand stilled on her arm, just resting there, fingers curling loose over her wrist. “What  _if_  he had? Did you want him to?”

She looked up at him over her glasses, strangely shy or… nervous? “I don’t know? Maybe. But Tommy… how does that work, with… this. Us.”

Tommy blinked, a sudden weight dropping through his gut.

Felicity lifted her free hand to cover his on her arm, idly tracing a fingertip over the bones. “I mean… this isn’t dating. Friends with benefits, right? You see other people.”

He didn’t. Not that he was deliberately abstaining, but he never did  _date_  much, and he hadn’t even taken a girl home since he and Felicity started doing this… thing. But she carried on before he found the words to clarify.

“This isn’t a relationship.” 

“ _What_?” He snatched his hand away from her, startled and a little hurt.

“Oh my god, no!” Felicity turned to him fully, her hands flying to his face. “Tommy, you know I didn’t mean it like—like this is just sex, we’re not even  _having_  sex! I mean that this isn’t a, a romantic relationship, we’re  _friends_ , and we make out sometimes.” She winced. “A lot, really, but it’s not my fault you kiss so well.”

His mouth fell open, chin tucking as he folded his arms.

She shook her head. “Not relevant. I just mean that you and me, this thing, it’s not like we’re not interested in seeing other people. I have  _no_  illusions that you’re just gonna suddenly stop dating or sleeping with other people—and I wouldn’t want you to!” She held up her hands, then gestured back and forth between the two of them. “I mean… that’s not what this is, right?”

“…Right,” he repeated carefully.

“So it made me start thinking.” She pursed her lips, nodded firmly. “We should discuss boundaries.”

“Boundaries?” Tommy echoed, squinting.

Felicity smiled brightly and nodded again. “Yes! Like, by all means, keep doing the things you do, and you can still kiss me if we’re feeling like it. I mean, I kinda figure it’s your standard operating procedure anyways, but as long as you’re safe, clean with your one night stands or casual partners or whatever, I’m fine.”

Tommy’s head pulled back on his neck, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to take offense or not. “Thanks, I think.”

“But, like… if either of us starts dating somebody, obviously this would need to change.” She smoothed her hands over her stomach, one of her nervous tells. “Right?”

“Yeah,” he drawled, realizing she was looking for reassurance as much as anything. “Sure.” His brows pulled together, and something squirmed in his gut. “That would… be like cheating, obviously.”

“Exactly!” She threw up her hands. “And that’s not okay. So, if we start seeing someone else, this,” fingers flicking back and forth again, “goes on moratorium for however long that lasts.”

The squirming in Tommy’s gut started a strange tightness in his chest. “Yeah. That makes sense. But…” he shifted his weight on his bare feet, straightening from the counter and rubbing his palms over the thighs of his jeans. “What exactly constitutes ‘seeing someone else’? Like, having a date with someone at all? Second date? Third?”

Felicity’s gaze turned inward, her arms crossing over her waist as she chewed her lower lip thoughtfully–his eyes watching the press of her teeth against the pink flesh. “Probably… after the third? Like, if you’re really sure you wanna keep seeing this person, and it’s exclusive.”

“That makes sense,” he said again, nodding slowly. “So if it’s casual, it doesn’t change us. But if it’s serious, we cool off.”

“Right.” She smiled at him, and he smiled back, pushing down the strange twisting in his stomach. Her fingers slid over his wrist, squeezing. “And since casual is more your thing than mine, I just want to be clear that I’m not jealous or whatever.”

“Oh,  _really_?” He put on a broad grin, teasingly winking. “Not worried I’ll like kissing them better?”

She rolled her eyes and stepped closer, her grip transferring to the front of his shirt as he dropped his arms to his sides. “Nah, not too worried. Even  _if_  they kiss better, you still  _like_  kissing me, and anyways. They’re not your best friend.  _I_  am.”

The tension in his gut and chest dissolved into a rush of warm affection, and Tommy smiled wide down at her, lifting a hand to tuck a loose curl over Felicity’s shoulder. “Damn right, you are.”

“Besides,” she said softly, one palm smoothing up the clinging cotton of his tee shirt, up his chest to play her fingertips along his collarbone. “I’m not sure you’d like the way they kiss better than me at all.”

Letting loose a soft, surprised laugh, he settled his hands in the curve of her waist, reeling her in so her feet were between his and the warmth of her body flush against the the length of his. “Oh, no?”

She tipped her chin back to hold his eyes, mouth curling smugly. “No. I know  _exactly_  how much you like what I do with my tongue.”

He inhaled deeply, heat tightening his abs. Pulling his bottom lip through his teeth, he took a firm grip of her waist and lifted, enjoying the way she squeaked when he set her on the island countertop, putting her at eyelevel with him. He held her gaze and licked his lips, shifting to stand between her knees as she parted them around his hips. “I  _do_  really like your tongue.” He leaned in slow, kissing her parted lips softly, pulling back to breathe against them, “It’s a very  _talented_ tongue.”

She laughed, hands sliding up his shoulders to link behind his neck. She kissed his lips, once, twice, sucking briefly on the upper and nipping the lower before trailing open-mouthed kisses along his jaw. Breathing against his ear, she murmured huskily, “You don’t know the half of it, Merlyn.”

He dropped his face into her neck, groaning, the counter meeting him hard and cold and unwelcoming when his hips surged between her firm thighs. “You are a  _tease_ , Jesus.” He scraped his teeth over the skin of her shoulder to make her shiver, kneading her hips under his hands. “But I’ll settle for the half I’m allowed to know.”

She hummed in satisfaction—stuttering to a sharp inhale when he sucked hard on her throat. “Then come up here and enjoy it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Chuckling, he lifted his head and met her hungry mouth, kissing slow and exploratory until she cupped his jaw in her hands, impatiently licking at the seam of his mouth.

He opened for her, moaning happily as her tongue stroked against his.

And if he hoped, very quietly, that the guy at the coffee shop never got up the nerve to ask for her phone number, he chose not to think about it very hard.


End file.
